Toasters are known which have a carcass provided with two resistors that can be: housed in quartz tubes, coiled in ceramic forms or wound on a mica compound, which resistors are placed next to the inner side of the larger side walls of the carcass and defining a middle receptacle where the pieces of bread to be toasted are placed, delimited by a pair of grids that prevent the bread from touching the resistors, the bottom of such receptacle moreover being provided with an ejector that can be pushed down toward the bottom of the receptacle by means of an external level, held there and automatically released by means of a thermostat or control timer, likewise causing the bread slices to be automatically thrown out of the receptacle.
These toasters are, broadly speaking, wholly acceptable when toasting ready sliced packed bread or like products requiring the same amount of heat on both face-sides. However, they have the following disadvantages or inconveniences.
It is increasingly frequent for the conventional "toasts" to be made using bread loaves or rolls, instead of ready sliced packed bread, in other words, bread with crust on one side and obtained by slicing the bread loaf or roll in half. This means that when the half-loaf is inserted in the toaster, one of its sides exposes the crumb to one of the heat sources in such toaster while the other exposes the already baked crust which will nevertheless receive the same amount of heat, which also means that in order to toast the crumb side to the necessary extent, the crust will be over-hardened and sometimes even burnt.
This limits the use of the toasters and requires the use of grills to make toasts of this sort, which is slower and more complicated than using toasters of the aforesaid type.
Because of the power generated by toasters sold on the market and suitable for a sufficiently short space of time to be acceptable to most consumers, toasting usually results in toasts with a very thin crunchy layer and a soft and raw inside. This is not what people who like "crunchy toasts" want, in other words, toasts uniformly toasted throughout. To make this sort of toasts, the toaster output should be far less than the usual and toasting time would obviously increase.
Since time or toast control toasters are automatic appliances that are not watched over once toasting begins, it could happen that when the toast is taken out enough time has elapsed for the latter to have cooled down, after the heating resistors are automatically switched off, and it is no longer as tempting as when warm.
An attempt to solve this latter problem in a market toaster involves a system which holds the toaster ejector mechanically when the heating cycle is completed. Thus, the toast remains inside the toaster, though the heating resistors are now off, until the ejector button is pushed. This system whereby heat remaining within the toaster is used is effective to some extent but for only a very short space of time.